Purpose: Despite being widely used for the treatment of several solid tumors, Gemcitabine (GEM) exhibits several suboptimal pharmacokinetic properties. Therefore, the design of nanoparticle delivery systems is a promising strategy to enhance GEM pharmacokinetic properties.
Methods: In this work, the polymeric material methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(L-glutamic acid)-graft-gemcitabine (mPEG-b-PLG-g-GEM) was synthesized through the covalent conjugation of GEM with the carboxylic group of methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly (L-glutamic acid) (mPEG-b-PLG) (mPEG113, Mn = 5000). mPEG-PLG-GEM/CaP nanoparticles were prepared through the simple mixing of calcium and phosphate/mPEG-PLG-GEM solutions. mPEG-PLG-GEM was embedded in the calcium phophate (CaP) backbone via electrostatic interactions.
Results: After incubation in plasma at 37°C for 24 h, gemcitabine was degraded by 24.6% for the mPEG-PLG-GEM, 14.7% for the mPEG-PLG-GEM/CaP nanoparticles, and 90% for the free gemcitabine solution. It was observed that mPEG-PLG-GEM and mPEG-PLG-GEM/CaP improved the area-under-curve (AUC) values by 5.26-fold and 6.33-fold compared to free drug, respectively.
Conclusion: The amide bond linked gemcitabine polymers was able to protect GEM from cytidine deaminase degradation in vivo, and the skeleton formed by the calcium phosphate enhanced the stability and prolonged the half-life of GEM. Importantly, mPEG-PLG-GEM/CaP nanoparticles elevated the GEM plasma concentration in an animal model.
Keywords: calcium phosphate; nanoparticles; pharmacokinetics; polyethylene glycol-poly glutamic acid-gemcitabine; stability.